


Flight

by Souja



Category: BIRDMEN - 田辺イエロウ | Tanabe Yellow
Genre: Alternate Universe, Coming of Age, Rambling, Short Chapters, World building mostly, i guess?, i have no clue what i'm doing, notto disu shittu agen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-25
Updated: 2016-06-25
Packaged: 2018-07-18 04:42:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 876
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7300051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Souja/pseuds/Souja
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Growing up is something that happens to the best of us; what's more important is picking the right nestmates to go through it with.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Flight

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Birdmen Fandom](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Birdmen+Fandom).



.Home.

 

\--

_Eishi of the nest Karasuma might've been a bit more lonely than he knew what to do with._

 

_\--_

 

He'd thought he was accustomed to quiet being the very youngest of a modest, but noisy, flock of eight. Although he could very much hear the words the others projected, their rapid fire conversations and comebacks, the colours and curves of objects of their imagination, it wouldn't be till just after the crown of his 8th that he'd be able to chirp back in response.

 

Which made it hard to get a word in edgewise, especially with twin Bellwethers for direct elder nestlings. So he learned to let his thoughts wander only a little. Learned to project them _just_ enough to be heard, not necesarilly acknowledged.

 

It was why despite watching them take off in ribbons of black to lands he likely wouldn't see, rather than projecting a thunderous ' _GOODBYE!!_ _'_ , he'd sent a quiet notice of ' _Fly safe_ _'_ to each of them. It didn't matter anyway, when they'd return he'd have new data for his book. They'd return safe, as always. There was no need for something as grandiose as a goodbye.

 

The day had been a quiet one. The second father had taken flight with a scouting group, leaving his mother (biologically) in charge of the nest. The elder nestlings of the nest Karasuma had followed, an unfortunate irony that despite the union between a Migrator, a Nester, and a Vanguard, almost all offspring acquired the Migratory instincts. Now he was both youngest and alone at the mercy of two overbearing, doting, parents.

 

He knew it was instinct that made them suddenly become all the more protective, all the more finicky. He understood the way they felt; the chilling and oppressive emptiness that followed was never truly under control. Despite the instantaneous messages relayed between they and the members gone through the duration of the flight, it wasn't the same as when they were together. Thoughts, though thoroughly touching, were unequal to a physical touch. Their absence screamed from every empty corner. No matter how loudly he chirped, an inescapable silence boomed back at him.

 

Maybe that had been why he'd fled to the skies. The nest felt empty without the majority of inhabitants present, and deep within him a silent _thump-thump-thump_ of loneliness worked its way throughout his bones every time he passed a scroll, or doll, or wayward ball. The vanguard, his second mother, seemed all too distracted for conversation or play in the moments where she wasn't over-observing every splinter and misaligned feather. His mother fussed about him and nothing to the extent that nothing was really accomplished.

 

Neither of them spoke through thought, nor through speech. Though he'd come to expect it for at least the first week of a flight, it was the first time he'd ever been subjected to it...alone. Without the usual shield of ruckus and disorder projecting around the corner, it was hard to face. A pinprick of something he couldn't, wouldn't, name, blossomed in his chest.

 

He wondered, absently, if they were aware they still projected even without words. That he could feel every anxious thought and fear. 

 

A deep part of him was scared he'd ever become like that. So connected with his Nest that basic functions became a chore in their absence. A deeper part taunted him with the treasonous thought that he already was. After all, that was their nature; to link and intertwine like threads. To pull apart those bonds once formed apparently spelled disaster, or so his biological father had said.

 

And then he'd flown far, far, away.

 

Absentmindedly, he sifted his hands through a cloud, relishing in the cool relief as it dissipated around him. He remembered going on flights when he was very small, cradled in a blanket of wing mass until he had enough of his own to support himself. At the time, the differences in age and instinct between he and his nestlings had seemed miniscule. He ate what they ate. Flew where they flew.

 

When he awoke from a nightmare, they flew together till he was calm. It seemed now that they'd flown too far away for him. There would be no warm embraces to soothe him from his terrors.

 

Above a sea of nests and clouds, Eishi did a loop, diving straight downwards at the tail.

 

\--

 

He returned to the nest just after sunset, taking a little more time than necessary to observe the lanterns that dotted the mouths of their respective nests. On cloudless nights it became difficult to decipher which was land and which was sky. Nearly impossible if the moon happened to not be present.

 

When he was closer to the ground, he did one more loop around the nests in his area, careful not to stray into the airspace above the more...protective, nests. In the faint glow of the moonlight, he could decipher crest from crest. There was the Calypso nest, there was the Ikari nest.

 

There, built into the side of a large oak tree, was the Karasuma nest. His home.

 

His empty home.

 

His home where quiet screamed from ever corner.

 

His home, built for twelve, filled with not even a quarter of that.

 

Home sweet home.

**Author's Note:**

> B3


End file.
